Burton Albion manager Nigel Clough has offered an injury update on left-back Stephen Warnock, and revealed why Lloyd Dyer was left out of the starting line-up for Saturday's 4-1 defeat to Hull City at the KCOM Stadium.

Warnock limped off following a non-contact injury during one of his early marauding runs forward, shaping to put a cross in but planting his foot and incurring the injury.

Physio Nick Fenton raced on and treated Warnock - in scenes not too dissimilar to the ones seen when Liam Boyce ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee against Shrewsbury Town two weeks ago.

And Warnock carried on, but hauled himself off following a clearance from inside the Brewers' penalty area, and was replaced by Lloyd Dyer - who was left out of the starting lineup with his own injury problems.

It remains to be seen how serious - or not - the former Liverpool man's injury is, but Nigel Clough has ruled out any possibility of him playing in the Brewers' next match at Middlesbrough on Tuesday night.

"No, no - it's too early (to tell) at the moment, we'll know a bit more early next week, Clough said.

"He'll certainly not be available for Middlesbrough."

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Warnock's injury prompted an earlier introduction for Lloyd Dyer than Clough and he would have liked - with the winger brought on inside the first ten minutes and the Brewers going a goal down making for a hectic first-half.

It certainly wasn't ideal for Dyer's fitness for the 34-year-old to find himself coming on so soon in the match, and with the Albion's squad size as small as it is - the likes of Lucas Akins playing 90 minutes again after his Oldham exploits are a necessary evil for the Brewers.

Lloyd Dyer played near enough 90 minutes on Saturday despite not having trained all week (Image: James Wilson/Epic Action Imagery)

Once Dyer came on, he "roasted" full-back Ola Aina for a spell - in Clough's words- and looked dangerous, but Jackson Irvine's red card on the 38th minute, just five minutes after equalising, meant Dyer's role was that of a more defensive one for the rest of the match.

"He (Dyer) had a slight thigh problem - he didn't train all week," cleared up Clough.

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"The formation that we played had Warnock as a sort of left-wing-back.

"Having lost him we were forced to put Lloyd on and I thought he did very well, certainly when we had 11 men.

"He roasted their right-back (Aina) for a little spell, for five or ten minutes, and we should have given him the ball more."

That also prompted an earlier introduction for the returning Tom Flanagan, again, much sooner than he or Clough would have envisaged.

Tom Flanagan on his return to action with Burton Albion (Image: James Wilson/Epic Action Imagery)

Flanagan re-signed earlier in the week on a two-year deal and was not expected to play against Hull - but now it looks like his first start could come as soon as Tuesday night as a result of Warnock's injury.

The returning Brewer was a second-half substitute in place of Marvin Sordell on the 56th minute, as the Brewers looked to preserve their pride and shut up shop in the proces.